Band:	Firewind
Album:	Firewind
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	May 2020

01. Welcome To The Empire
02. Devour
03. Rising Fire
04. Break Away
05. Orbitual Sunrise
06. Longing To Know You
07. Perfect Stranger
08. Overdrive
09. All My Life
10. Space Cowboy
11. Kill The Pain

Right, Firewind from Firewind. Often I question when a band with many albums under their belt decide to release an eponymous album years down the line. In this case, they do get a pass as they explained it by saying this feels like a re-launch of the band by bringing Herbie Langhans as a vocalist, as he does sound very much like their first singer Stephen Fredrick. The guy has pipes and the right amount of smokiness in his voice to charm anyone. Anyway, it is a Firewind album and as we all should know by now, Firewind never disappoint.

So overall, with Firewind we are indeed looking at 48 minutes of direct Power Metal influenced by olden classic Hard Rock / Heavy Metal from the likes of Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Dio or Judas Priest. Technical abilities, especially guitar-wise are, are again something to behold. Gus G is one of the best metal guitar players ever, with his instinct for speed, awesome rocking sound and that special touch, which is reminiscent of other great instrument technicians such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani or Michael Romeo.

The addition of Herbie on vocals has an impact on the overall atmosphere. He somehow brings a more retro sound to their songs than their previous singer Henning Basse, who had his own direct vibe. Herbie has the range to cover highs and lows.

If I had to pick my favourites tracks, it would look like this: The proggy "Welcome to the Empire", the straightforward sound of "Devour", the killer rhythmic featured on "Rising Fire" and the homage to Judas Priest entitled "Kill the Pain" (Subtle play on words there from "Painkiller"). At the end of the day, it's quite the complete album with a lot of enjoyable throwback moments and killer songs.

The short version of this review is: This is uncomplicated yet superb Power / Heavy Metal from Greece. But then the same could be said about all of their previous albums. Gus G kills on guitars, but again that is a given on any given Firewind album. So more of the same quality that you came to expect from AFM Records.

The long version of this review is: What makes this special for me is that the flow of the album is awesome. Nothing overly complicated, just pure thrilling Heavy Metal done with the utmost quality in every aspect and a squeaky clean production. I can count the number of bands out there that can rival with Firewind on about three fingers, especially in terms of directness and pure skills. Word of advice guys: Keep Herbie Langhans on vocals for the next album. Oh, and yeah I am digging the fiery artwork.